Monthly Archives: September 2010

Video conferencing may finally be set to go mainstream with Logitech and Cisco both set to unveil HD cameras linked to internet-connected living room TV sets next Wednesday.

With Skype HD cameras already being integrated with TVs and Microsoft due to offer video conferencing in its Kinect motion controller accessory in November, TV viewers will be getting used to being watched themselves. Read more

Though Google still makes the lion’s share of its revenues through search advertising, that may begin to change as Android, YouTube and display advertising mature, writes the FT’s Lex column.

Googleis not the font of all knowledge, rather the rummage bag in which it resides. However, it has made bold predictions this week as it tries to grab the advertising industry’s attention. By 2015, the Googlers think mobile phones will be the most popular screen for web browsing, and the display advertising market will grow to $50bn.

The recent dust-up between China and Japan suggested how neighbours can have incompatible interests. But in business, things are often rather different. In one example, China’s emergence as a producer of sophisticated technology is helping strengthen one of the few big microchip businesses left in Japan. Read more

News of a big fall in the price of Apple shares at the open (on supposedly no news except, err, this) got the Twittersphere raging about the prospect of a mini flash crash in the making Tuesday: Read more

But its closest rival, both in looks, specifications and marketing strategy, appears to be Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, with the two manufacturers looking to pair the devices with their existing smartphones. Read more

Vibrant Media, an in-text advertising company which has grown from a $500,000 investment in 2000 to $100m revenues last year, is hiring a new chief financial officer in preparation for a possible initial public offering, writes FT Media Editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.

Jeff Babka is coming in from Sophos, an Oxford-based IT security company that had begun work on an IPO filing before its $830m sale to Apax Partners. Read more

From the FT’s beyondbrics blogIn India, some 600m people own mobile phones but just 60m have access to broadband internet. Hewlett-Packard is aiming to bridge that gap with apps that can access the web from any cell phone using voice and text messaging.

The news on Thursday reinforced the view that PC makers and their microprocessor partners have suffered a tough “back to school” season. With tablets, eReaders and smartphones exciting the consumer imagination more than laptops, it could be an equally tough holiday season ahead. Read more

Roku is a feisty and fleet-footed Silicon Valley company that has been running ahead of a flood of internet-connected devices threatening to engulf its tiny set-top box.

With its new lineup just launched, Roku stays out in front on price and content and gets in just ahead of its biggest challenger to date – Apple TV, which is due to go on sale by the end of the month. Read more

Chinese entrepreneurs like to talk about ‘Win-Win’ – deals or situations that benefit both sides. But Jack Ma, one of the country’s most iconic business leaders, is finding himself stuck in what can only be described as a lose-lose situation. Read more

Techcrunch reported over the weekend that Facebook is working on its own mobile phone, which will tightly integrate its social networking features into the device.

Facebook has said that it is “not building a phone”.

But Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington is standing by his story, noting that Apple doesn’t directly operate its own mobile manufacturing equipment either.

If the idea of a Facebook phone sounds familiar, perhaps you read FT Tech Blog’s post from February. If Techcrunch’s story is true, our crystal ball seems to have been working particularly well back then. Read more

The brief surge of interest in Chatroulette this year suggests we’re all a little intrigued at what a person might look like on the end of a connection.

But does that mean video calling on phones, the subject of this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section, is finally going to catch on with the mainstream consumer or just become another passing fad? Read more

Of the 16 social and media technologies making their debut at the Demo conference in Silicon Valley, Bump.com was perhaps the most intriguing and original idea.

It’s social networking through your US number plate, or license plate as it’s called here – with possibilities for dating, car talk, safety messages and receiving offers all wrapped up in your bumper. Read more

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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.

Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 25 years. He reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby from 2004 to 2013, before returning to London, where he is now lead writer of the #techFT daily newsletter.

Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and moved from London to join the team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers personal tech and the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.

Hannah Kuchler writes about technology and Silicon Valley from the FT's San Francisco bureau. She covers social media including Facebook and Twitter and the dark and mysterious world of cybersecurity. Hannah has worked for the FT in London, Hong Kong and New York, reporting on everything from British politics to the Chinese internet.